1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to automated tracking systems.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Recently, with the market arrival of low cost, high quality digital recorders, many non-professional and professional consumers have increasingly used recorders to document a variety of different events. For example, many consumers create films of themselves or others performing extreme sports, such as rock climbing, skydiving, motor cross, mountain biking, and other similar activities. Similarly, consumers are able to create High Definition quality films of family events, such as reunions, sporting events, graduations, and other similar memorable events. Additionally, digital video recorders have also become more prevalent in professional and industrial settings. For example, many law enforcement departments have incorporated video recorders into police cruisers.
While recent advances in film and video creation and production have allowed consumers and professionals to easily create high quality videos of various events, it can still be difficult for consumers and professionals to acquire the quality and perspective that they may desire in their footage, in particular, in single operator situations. For example, an individual may desire to record him- or herself snowboarding down a particular slope. One will understand the difficulty the individual would have in simultaneously filming themselves from a third person perspective, such as when they are skiing past a camera that is being swiveled on a tripod by an operator to keep them “in frame.” Similarly, a police officer may desire to record their interactions with the public, but a dash-mounted recorder only provides a limited and static field of view.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems, methods, and apparatus that can gather video footage of desired events and individuals without requiring direct and continual user interaction with the recording device.